Big Bird’s Words: eSchool News App of the Week

It comes from Sesame Street, works on Apple and Android devices, and features Big Bird, games, and fun. Big Bird’s Words, an eSchool News and Metro Bistro App of the Week, encourages children ages four and up to learn vocabulary and read written text.  The App ($.99) uses Big Bird’s wonderful Word-O-Scope to get children hunting for words in their real-life environment. Finding words is fun, especially when they get to use their devices’ camera to click on images of the words—like cereal on their breakfast table. Wired Magazine recommends it as a great app for children who are just starting school. Take a look at the demo reel from Qualcomm to better understand what this app does.

Smithsonian’s Wiggle and Stomp

Send your youngest students on a virtual tour of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park with the free app, Shutterbugs: Wiggle and Stomp. Using the app, your students, with the help of Ada, the Zookeeper, learn about flamingos, lions, mole rats, pandas, and so many more animals. They use the virtual Shutterbug camera to snap pictures of animals they find on their journey throughout the game. The app is designed to be used by individual players; it will adapt itself to the level of the user.

If you like Shutterbugs, you’ll want to keep a lookout on the Smithsonian Science Education site for the upcoming games, Habitats and Memory Watch.

Miss Humblebee’s Academy

Miss Humblebee’s Academy for Pre-Kindergartners, Preschoolers, and Kindergartners offers a safe online learning environment free from pop-ups, advertisements, and links. Designed for young children, the Academy features hundreds of lessons, mobile access, and progress reports. Using the program, students study topics in core subjects such as math, science, social studies, language, art, music, and literacy with Miss Humblebee and her four “amazing” friends”.

Family and educator memberships are available as a free one-week trial.  Songs and albums are priced at $.99, $8.49, and $8.99. Classroom licenses ($299) are available as are monthly memberships ($7.95 first child; $5.00 for each additional child) for families. You can preview Miss Humblebee’s delight songs without signing up.

Blended Learning for Young Children

Vinci Learning features digital devices and programs for early childhood learning. The devices are 7” Android tablets specifically designed for our youngest learners. Apps for the tablets include Play and Learn studies in mathematics, science, and language arts & literacy. While playing with Vinci apps, student profiles are developed; learning activities are recommended based on the assessment. Information about the suggested activities is sent to teachers and parents, and teachers can adjust the program, as needed. This cloud-based analytical tool follows a blended learning approach that is structured to differentiate learning to fit individual needs.

Everyone’s Favorite Tiger: Daniel

If you are a preschool or Pre-Kindergarten teacher, you may want to recommend this PBS app to parents who are having difficulties getting their children ready for school.  The app, Daniel Tiger’s Day & Night, which includes eight games, helps children with their night and morning routines. Morning games target getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and putting on shoes. Good night games are: Bath Time, Brush Teeth, Pajama Tim, and Bedtime Story. The app ($2.99 at the iTunes Store) is the second in the series, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Kick Start Your SchoolYear by iTunes

The iTunes Store has compiled an extensive list of apps that will help you and your students become better organized and productive, in addition to increasing knowledge.  Included are reading and writing apps for all ages, apps for organization, and apps for math, science, history, geography, and art and creativity. So—as the new school year is about to begin, you’ll want to browse through the offerings (free and for-pay) in the Kick Start for the School Year section of iTunes.

Splash Math

For students, up to Grade 5, Splash Math offers activities that make math fun to practice and easy to learn. There’s Learn Money for ages 4-9, Splash Math Kindergarten with its HD graphics and “titillating animal sounds”, Telling Time for ages 4-9, a back-to-school workbook for Grades 1-5, Summer Review Math workbook, and Splash Math Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, and Grade 5.  The lighter versions of the apps are free; the complete or full ones are priced at $4.99-$9.99.

Reading Eggs & Eggspress—Edmentum

Edmentum’s Reading Eggs helps PreKindergarten through Grade 2 students become proficient readers by giving them lessons that feature phonics, sight words, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, in addition to spelling and writing. The self-paced program is interactive and treats students to “egg” awards. Eggspress, for students in Grades 2-6, focuses on reading comprehension and motivation for reading. The library includes more than 600 full-colored fiction and non-fiction ebooks and a wealth of exciting educational games.

PBS for PreK

You can sign up for free or login to your PBS account to view resources that help students learn about topics that span the curriculum. If you search for Caillou on the PBS site, for example, you’ll find PreKindergarten activities, printables, songs, and other goodies all featuring the four-year-old Caillou. At PBS Learning Media, there are Caillou videos about life science, health, investigation, and social, physical, and emotional development. Caillou’s Cricket, for example, is an engaging story about a preschooler who finds a cricket in his little truck. During a search for the cricket throughout the house, Caillou learns about crickets and the sounds they make. Be sure to watch Caillou’s Dance Party, Shadow Scientist, and Caillou Makes a Meal.

Critter Corral for Math Understanding

Stanford Research Associate Kristen Blair was the leader of a team that developed the early learning app, Critter Corral. What makes Critter Corral special is that it is designed to help students understand math. Using this app, children aren’t just counting; they are connecting ideas about quantity and developing a basis for math learning in the future. The numbers in Critter Corral are presented in different ways, and children learn to “fix” answers that aren’t exactly right. In addition to being a great game for young students, Critter Corral is helping Stanford researchers learn more about how children solve problems. You can download Critter Corral free at the iTunes store.